search

The experience reminded me that the drama of playback lives in the potential of a sound to emerge suddenly from silence into full-throttle expression and ebb back just as quickly. The presence of this potential imbues even quiet passages with anticipation and excitement.

Every hit of the conga sounded faster than I'd heard it, too. The impulse behavior of the Fairchild was off the charts—transients came at me blindingly, realistically fast, with long decay and outstanding pace and drive. This breakneck speed compounded the liveness of the vastly dynamic presentation, at times…

The result is what's known as an underhung arm, where the stylus plays the record in an arc that doesn't reach the record's center. Instead of two null points, an underhung arm can only have one, with tracking angle error that increases to its sides. ViV places the null point about two-thirds of the way into the record, 90mm from the spindle. This design choice biases the tracking angle error so it's greatest at the start of the side, where the linear speed is highest, and the groove modulations are more spread out. In return, you get more accurate tracking at the much tougher-to-play…

After it first appeared in 1985, the A1 quickly became famous for its hot top plate. The top plate got as hot as it did because it was used as a heatsink for the output transistors, which were biased highly…

Compared to Rogue Audio Sphinx
Rogue Audio's tube/class-D hybrid Sphinx V3 and Musical Fidelity's A1 sounded more alike than different. Still, the "different" part was important.

The Sphinx V3 uses an N-core power module to make 100 class-D watts into 8 ohms. It costs $1595 and has a killer, to-die-for MM/ MC phono stage that came across as more transparent than the A1's. As always when comparing components, the sound character of the previous component affects what I notice first with the new component that replaces it.

In this case, I'd been listening to pianist…

Description: Solid state integrated amplifier. Inputs: 1 pair phono (RCA), five pair line-level single-ended (RCA; labeled CD, Tuner, Aux 1, Aux 2, Tape Out). Outputs: one pair "Tape Out" line-level fixed (RCA), one pair "Pre Out" line-level variable, one set L-R multiway loudspeaker binding posts. Rated power in class-A: 25Wpc into 8 ohms (14dBW). Max. voltage: 42.5V, peak–peak. Max. current: 25A, peak–peak. Gain (volume at maximum): 32dB (Direct Mode), 42dB (Normal Mode). Line level sensitivity: 300mV RMS nominal, 8V RMS max. Input impedance: 25k ohms line, 50k…

Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird turntable with EMT 912-HI tonearm and EMT JSD 6 moving coil cartridge, Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm with a Dynavector XX2 and Hana Umami Blue moving coils; Musical Fidelity Stealth turntable with a Nagaoka MP-200 moving Permalloy cartridge; MoFi MasterPhono and Prima Luna EVO 100 phono stages.
Digital sources: Denafrips Terminator Plus, HoloAudio Spring 3, dCS Lina (with Master Clock) DACs; Onkyo C-7030 CD player, TEAC CRDS-701T CD transport.
Preamplifier: HoloAudio Serene.
Power amplifiers: Parasound…

I assessed the Musical Fidelity A1's measured performance using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. I initially had some problems, as while the right channel's gain increased as expected when I pushed the front-panel button to switch from Direct mode to Normal mode, the left channel was muted. Suspecting there was something wrong with the pushbutton, I pressed it in and out several times in quick succession, which restored correct operation. I subsequently encountered another problem: The right channel had excessive distortion and limited power if the volume control…

This strategy has served my life story well. It has placed me without striving in countless cinema-worthy locations, hanging with all types of legend-worthy characters.

Lately, that corner where I stand wearing the right hat is in front of the Polish newsstand at the intersection of Manhattan and Greenpoint…